We continue to publish news about repressions against anarchists, antifascists and social activists and about the obstacles we face from the side of police state. In February, March and April issue you can read about Maidan ghost, letters from the prisons and senseless trials. If you recognize that we’ve missed anything or you are informed about other cases of repressions, let us know by writing to address abc-msk <> riseup.net.

For costs of all the listed cases, besides indicated internet purses, you may donate money via ABC-Moscow. Check:

http://wiki.avtonom.org/en/index.php/Donate for guidelines.

Arrest of the Belorussian activist

Dmitry Rezanovich was detained at the Russian-Ukrainian border with the passport to the name of his sibling in the middle of March. He didn’t have any papers that could prove his identity. After detaining the anarchist clarified that he went from Ukraine to Kursk region to visit his relatives.

He has been sentenced to administrative deportation out of the Russian Federation according to the violation of the regime of residence. We hope that there won’t be the initiation of criminal proceeding. Russian authorities claimed earlier he was suspected in participation in EuroMaidan and preparing a terrorist attack against the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant. Solidarity actions took place in Kyiv, Moscow and Lviv.

Solidarity group in VK: – https://vk.com/svobodaanarhist

You may via Yandex Money  – 41001188576819, WEB MONEY -R272103511250

To write a letter use the address: abc-msk <> riseup.net, in subject field “For Rezanovich”, we’ll send all your letters to Dmitry.

The trial of anarchists in Irkutsk

On the 13th of March, antifascists had been sentenced to a fine of 20 000 rubles (approximately 400 euros) from each for hanging a banner in the memory of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasiya Baburova from the roof of the building.

In the role of witnesses were 2 cops and 1 nazi. It is being planned to appeal the decision in the higher court. On the 18th of March at the pro-Putin event anarchists handed out the leaflets about the Crimean situation. They were detained, searched and released after a written explanation. .

Arrest of Alexey Sutuga

On the 5th of April Moscow anarchist and antifascist Alexey Sutuga was detained. He was going back with friends from the show in the club Rock House, when several plain clothes police officers approached to them near “Izmaylovskaya” metro station, they said they are the criminal investigators from Petrovka, 38. At least 10 antifascist were detained with Sutuga together.

All of detainees except Sutuga were searched and released from the Izmaylovo police station without filing a report .

In the police record had been written that Sutuga, from their words, used foul language in the public place. In relation to Sutuga the report was made according to the article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Crimes (minor hooliganism).

Sutuga managed to tell his friends that on the way to DIA he was asked in details about his recent visits to Ukraine, there are similar cases with other political activists.

On the 7 th of April it became known that Sutuga is charged in the criminal offense (“hooliganism with a group of people”), to be exact, the fight with Nazis on the 2nd of January 2014. Alexey himself says that in the evening of the 2 nd of January he tried to intervene streetfighting between two groups of people he did not know in prior. Earlier Sutuga was accused of the fight in the club “Vozdukh” however was granted the amnesty.

Sutuga is currently held in Butyrka prison of Moscow, his prison address is

Alexey Sutuga

FKU SIZO-2 UFSIN Rossii po g. Moskve,

ul. Novoslodskaya d. 45 127055 Moscow Russia

But please note that Butyrka prison does not allow letters in English, so you may send just a card or translate your letter with google translation.

Beating of the activists in Petrozavodsk

On the 8th of March another picket against the war in Ukraine picket was planned to be organised in Petrozavodsk. The day before, the organizers were attacked by the over a dozen people in masks while they were getting off the bus. At the day of the picket the activists cooked the food for “Food not Bombs”. When they were going out of the house, they were attacked by strangers. Anarchists were violently put in the cars without registration numbers and brought to the rural area. They were beaten up with whips and the power saw chain; as the result anarchists have broken teeth and one person has the trauma of the spine. Victims appealed to the prosecutor’s office (http://avtonom.org/news/v-petrozavodske-lyudi-v-maskah-pohitili-i-zhesto…).

In the forest the anarchists were demanded to assume that they are in the organization and name their allies. According to the victims, they were interrogated by the Center of counteraction against extremism (E-Center).

Counteraction to «extremism»

On the 15th of March, people fromFederal Security Services interrogated the dweller of Ivanovo, Elizaveta Lisitsina. Before she made the repost from Anarho-News page in VK.com (Russian equivalent of the Facebook). The criminal process was initiated according to the article 280 “public inciting to extremist activity“. It’s known that she was forced to self-incrimination however Elizaveta used the article 51 of the RF Constitution “Everyone has the right not to incriminate oneself”.

The modem, tablet, MP3 player and laptops were taken away from Lisitsina, her boyfriend and the neighbor. Now the technical expertise is being held. All of these people are in the status of witnesses. The day before the linguistic analysis took place and the marks of extremism had been found. Lisitsina is an active participant of the local scene, she helped to organize movie screenings and pickets dedicated to “Bolotnoe case”

Solidarity group in “Vkontakte”: http://vk.com/club68247029

To transfer the money for lawyers : Yandex Money – 410011189766242

Several issues of “Avtonom” have been put to the Federal list of extremist materials – № 29, 32 and 33. These issues were recognized as extremist in December of the last year but for several months they were not put in the list. It is recommended to have only one copy of this magazine and to distribute very carefully in Russia because otherwise you may be charged with misdemeanor of “distribution of extremist materials”. Prohibition of these 3 issues don’t have any affect to other issues of “Avtonom” , all of them are absolutely legal and available in book shops and local distros.

Criminal prosecution

Several of our comrades are still under investigation according to fake charges and part of them are imprisoned in pretrial detention center. Alexey Gaskarov is charged in “Bolotnaya Square case”, he has been accused in participation in “mass riots” and violation against public authority. Alexey is accused in pulling the arm of a conscripted soldier and the leg of the riot policemen.

According to Alexey’s words, he actually tried to pull out that riot policemen but pull him out of the lying on the ground protester who was being beaten by the riot policemen with the baton. And that’s all.

In February Alexey wrote two articles for “Svoboda” radio, they are: about criminal responsibility for mass riots in different countries and about relations between Ukraine and Russia due to the annexation of the Crimea.

On the 14th of April in the Zamoskvoretsky district trial the preliminary hearing on “The case of four” are assigned; except Alexey, Ilya Gushchin, Elena Kokhtareva and Alexandr Margolin are charged. Hearing will be held behind the closed doors at 14.00. They are the last accused in “The Bolotnaya Square Case”, whose cases have still not been started considering by the court. Natalia Susina will be the judge, previously she amnestied Dmitry Altaychinov who was charged in “The Bolotnaya Square Case”.

To transfer the money for the lawyers for Alexey and other political prisoners: Yandex Money – 410011867897149

To write the letter to Alexey:

Alexey Vladimirovich Gaskarov FKU SIZO-2 UFSIN Rossii po g. Moskve, ul. Novoslodskaya d. 45 127055 Moscow Russia

FKU SIZO-2 UFSIN Rossii po g. Moskve ul. Novoslobodskaya d. 45 127055 Moskva Russia
The website of support: http://en.gaskarov.info/
Alexey Raskhodchikov

Alexey was convicted for violation towards public authority that was dangerous for life and the health (part 2 of the article 318 of the Criminal Codex). This anarchist from Murmansk started the public correspondence, despite the delay of the letters, for instance, the letter signed as of February 28 but the date on the departure stamp was March 24 . In particular, Alexey asked not to call him “the prisoner of conscience” and here is his opinion about parole .

On the February 11, 2014 Raskhodchikov was sentenced to a year in penal colony. On the April 2, Murmansk region court considered the appeal however the sentence hadn’t been changed. As the result of the investigation, Regional youth council on human rights of Murmansk region found out the evidence that the man was brought to the police with the trauma of the head. Earlier the inquire officer refused the initiation of a criminal case towards duty officers, explaining that they are not responsible for the harm caused during the arrest.

From February 20 till March 10, in Arkhangelsk, Apatity, Vologda, Saint Petersburg, Petrozavodsk and Prague there were actions during a week of solidarity for Kraskhodchikov. More information about Alexey and his case you can read on the supportive group website

http://raskhodchikov.info

Yandex Money for lawyers and other needs – 410011959939084

Address to write a letter to Alexey: 184355, Murmansk region, Kolsky district, village Murmashi, Zelenaya str., 14 “a”, IK №16 for Raskhodchikov Alexey Valerievich
Note that we do not know yet if letters in English are accepted in this prison colony, so it is better to translate your letters with a google translator or pass them for support group to be translated: raskhodchikov.info <> gmail <> com

«The case of 12»

Convicted in the first wave of “Bolotnaya Square process” Stepan Zimin and Alexey Polikhovich are sentenced to 3,5 years of prison. In his letters Polikhovich says that the prison is a great place for self-education. When trials finished there are much time left for reading – Eric Berne, Slavoj Zizek and Logos magazine.

Zimin writes in his letter about prisoner’s dilemma: “If nobody talks, the police will accuse both with a minor crime only. Both people will be in the best position if they keep silence, however each will benefit more in case he is the only one who talks. Decency protects you from unnecessary troubles. Thirst of revenge prevents the opposing side from betrayal. Forgiveness helps to restore mutual cooperation. And clarity makes it possible for the opponent to understand, which provides the long term cooperation.”
Addresses for Zimin and Polikhovich_

Alexey Alexeevich Polikhovich, 1990 g.r. FKU SIZO-2 UFSIN Rossii po g. Moskve ul. Novoslobodskaya d. 45 127055 Moskva Russia
Stepan Yurevich Zimin 1992 g.r., FKU SIZO-5 (Vodnik) UFSIN Rossii po g. Moskve, Vyborskaya 20, 125130 Moskva Russia
Note that as prisoners are waiting for appeal and transfer in a remand prison where correspondence in English is not allowed, please just send postcards or translate your letters with google translation.

Iliya Romanov

Recently Iliya, who was earlier sentenced in Ukraine, has written his opinion about Maidan consequences: “The only right tactic is an active interference in any events. Instead of it, the tactic was “we won’t do anything, just will be staying at home, reading Marx and will believe in our unavoidable victory.”

Yandex Money for Iliya’s lawyer – 410012031648898

Address to write a letter to Iliya: Russia 603098, N.Novgorod, Gagarina Av., 26 “A”, СИЗО-1, Romanov Iliya Eduardovich, year of birth 1967

Note that as Ilya is in a remand prison where correspondence in English is not allowed, please just send postcards or translate your letters with google translation.

Prepared by ABC-Moscow collective

P.S. To find out about prosecutions in Belorussia read website of ABC-Belorussia (http://abc-belarus.org)

(might be blocked by some providers in Russia and Belarus, use Proxy and Tor). The collective has recently prepared the news review from prisons (http://abc-belarus.org/?p=4420#more-4420).

From now on, we are going to publish summaries of repressions against anarchists, antifascists and social activists in Russia on a regular basis, as well as on how the state opposes our activity. In the January-February issue: sudden amnesty of antifascists in Moscow, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, attempt to ban “Avtonom” zine due to “extremism”, detentions during Jan19 actions, verdicts in Moscow, Murmansk, Petersburg and other “heroic deeds” of cops from “E”-department. If you think that we have missed something in our article, or you know about other cases of repressions, please write to [email protected] On donations for ABC-Moscow check guidelines from here: http://wiki.avtonom.org/en/index.php/Donate

Verdicts for eight “Bolotnoe Case” defendants

On February 24th, Zamoskvoretsky Court delivered verdicts for eight defendants, accused according to “Bolotnoe Case”. The judge, Natalia Nikishina, found eight people guilty in participating in so-called “rioting” on May 6th 2012 at the Bolotnaya square in Moscow and violence against policemen. There were our comrades among the convicted: Alexey Polikhovich (sentenced to 3.5 years in prison colony), Stepan Zimin (sentenced to 3.5 years in prison colony), and Alexandra Dukhanina — she was the only one who got suspended sentence, 3 years and 3 months.

Verdict for Alexey Raskhodchikov

On February 11th, court in Murmansk sentenced anarchist and activist Alexey Raskhodchikov to 1 year in prison colony. He was accused in violence, dangerous for life and health against the official (Part 2, of Criminal Code 318 article). The case against Raskhodchikov has been roughly framed up by local policemen, after they had beaten activist in Summer 2013 during unlawful detention. Details on the sentence and Raskhodchikov’s case. Weeks of actions in solidarity with Alexey Raskhodchikov were organized from February 20th till March 10. You can get information on solidarity actions at the Alexei’s support website: http://raskhodchikov.info
Yandex wallet for raising money for paying up his lawyer and other expenses: 410011959939084

You may send letters for Alexey using the following address: 84355,
Murmanskaya oblast, kolskiy raion, p. Murmashi, ul. Zelenaya, 14 “a”. IK N16
for Alexey Valerevich Raskhodchikov.

Note that we do not know yet if letters in English are accepted in this prison colony, so it is better to translate your letters with a google translator or pass them for support group to be translated: raskhodchikov.info <> gmail <> com

Cases against “extremism”

In the November, court of Tyumen suddenly decided to declare three old issues of Avtonom magazine (29, 32, and 33) as “extremist”. According to attorney office, some articles of the magazine allegedly advocate terrorism, and call to violence against Nazi and policemen. More details on an insane expert evaluation made by cop-friendly linguists and ban of three issues.

Nevertheless, theses magazine issues have not been included into the federal list of extremist materials yet. Tyuman court decision would be challenged, possibly.

Ban of three particular issues does not affect other other issues of “Avtonom” — they are absolutely legal. A new issue was published recently, do not miss it!

Detentions after actions

Our comrades were detained after January-19 actions in Irkutsk and Petersburg. In Irkutsk two activists were detained after dropping an antifascist banner from a building. They had spent a day and night in a detention room, after that a court justified them. Story from activists is published here.

In Saint Petersburg, anarchists blocked the traffic on Vasilievsky Ostrov and marched with banners and chants on January 19th. After the actions, policemen detained several activists, they were released later with offence reports filed.

In Petersburg, on February 22, activists supporting Ukraine uprising were detained, while burning tyres in front of Spas-na-Krovi Cathedral in the city centre. After two days, court justified two of detained, who were under an accusation of disorderly conduct (art. 20.1 of Administrative Code), and the court hearing related to unauthorized rally was rescheduled to an indefinite date.

Amnesty for “hooligans”

In December, State Duma (Russian Parliament) declared amnesty for prisoners and accused, as a “handsome gesture” of “generous” State, it turned out to be a usual fraud and nothing. However, some had a luck: to escape of the worldwide shame, a special point for jailed Greenpeace environmentalists has been included into amnesty statement. First, environmentalists were accused of “piracy”, later the accusation has been changed to “hooliganism”. Amnesty applies to all accused in such crime — by a fluke, it was announced in the time, when some of our comrades were judged with fake “hooliganism” charges.

As a result, in Moscow, people with hooliganism charges, related with a fight in “Vozdukh” club — Alexey Sutuga, Alexey Olesinov, Babken Gukasyan and Alen Volikov have been amnestied.

In Nizhny Novgorod, Pavel Krivonosov, Oleg Gembaruk, and Dmitry Kolesov, who were accused in participation in an extremist group “Antifa-RASH”, fabricated by “E”-department officers, have been amnestied. Unfortunately, another two activists—Albert Gainutdinov and Artem Bystrov—who succeeded in escaping, have not been amnestied.

Details on amnesty and the “Antifa-RASH” case

In Kazan, Ruslan Rostov, Oleg Kapustyanov, Artem Sher, and Dmitry Ilichev, who were detained in April 2013 and accused of attacking local Nazis (who actively helped the investigation with their false witness), were amnestied.

In Moscow, people accused of attacking gigs of right-wing “Russkii Styag” and OHS bands—Irina Lipskaya, Andrey Molchanov, Alexander Chuprov, Andrey Gerasimov, and Amil Eminov— have been amnestied.

Current criminal prosecution

Series of our comrades are still under investigation on fake charges, some of them are jailed in pretrial custody.

Alexey Gaskarov is charged, as part of “Bolotnoe case”, with “participation in riots” and violence against official — Alexey is accused of pulling a hand of a conscript soldier and a leg of a riot police officer. According Alexey, he really tried to pull that riot policeman away from a demonstrator lying on the ground, who was being clubbed by that policeman. That is all his “crime”.

You can send funds for paying up lawyers (of Alexey and other political prisoners) to the following Yandex.Money wallet: 410011867897149

Web-site in support of Alexey: http://gaskarov.info.

Ilya Romanov, since the end of 80-es, who has been actively participating in anarchist movement, was injured on October 26th 2013 near the Nizhny Novgorod district military registration and enlistment office. As a result of detonation, that happened in the late night, his left hand was severely injured, and face has been burned, he was sent to hospital, where doctors have amputated his hand. Romanov has been interrogated as suspect, and has given statement that a pyrotechnic device activated in his hand.

In December 2013, Romanov was accused of possessing explosives (Criminal Code article 222), and, additionally, in a terrorist act attempt(Criminal Code article 205, 30). There is no ground to accuse Romanov of terrorism, as there is no corpus delicti. Recently Ilia was included into the List of terrorists and extremists of Russian Financial Monitoring Agency, under the number 1935. He is currently jailed in a pretrial custody.

You may transfer money to his wife Larisa for paying up Ilia’s lawyer:
Yandex.Money 410012031648898

You may write to Ilya:
Romanov Ilya Eduardovich 1967 g.r.
SIZO-1, pr. Gagarina 26 “A”
603098 N. Novgorod Russia

Note that Russian pre-trial detention facilities do not accept letters in other languages than Russian, so please translate your letter for example with google translation in prior to sending.

Prepared by ABC-Moscow collective

On repressions in Belarus you can read at ABC-Belarus web-site http://abc-belarus.org/ (it is blocked by some ISP’s, use proxies or TOR-Browser)